Out of touch, friend of Goldman Sachs, ineffective and Obama's third term: What Hillary's OWN campaign workers wrote about her
- Clinton's aides commissioned a vulnerability survey on the prospective presidential candidate two months before she launched her campaign
- Chief among their concerns: the former first lady, who hadn't driven herself in nearly 25 years, would come across as 'out of touch'
- The also worried that her speeches to Wall Street giants like Goldman Sachs would come bank to haunt her
- The campaign also tested Republican attacks on the Clinton Foundation's funding and alleged mismanagement, as well as Benghazi
- Other questions were about ethics investigations into her and her husband like Whitewater and her dismissal of ISIS
- Campaign assumed that Jeb Bush and Scott Walker were top rivals for the presidency
Hillary Clinton's aides commissioned a vulnerability survey on the prospective presidential candidate two months before she launched her campaign.
Chief among their concerns was that the former first lady, who hadn't driven herself in nearly 25 years, would come across as 'out of touch' to voters and her speeches to Wall Street giants like Goldman Sachs would come bank to haunt her.
They also tested her against attacks that she was campaigning for 'Obama's third term,' a hacked email obtained by Wikileaks shows, and 'ineffective' as secretary of state.
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Hillary Clinton's aides commissioned a vulnerability survey on the prospective presidential candidate two months before she launched her campaign. She is pictured voting today
Mandy Grunwald, a senior communications adviser, wanted the group conducting the study to probe voters' reaction to the messages: 'We need a new direction or 'We need to change course.'
John Podesta, a senior adviser to President Barack Obama who'd left the White House that month to sign on as Clinton's campaign chairman, agreed.
'To pile on' to that point, the Clinton loyalist said, the campaign should test the message: 'Obama's tried big government solutions for 6+ years and they haven't worked. Now she promises more of the same. We need a change in direction...'
Grunwald also made the point that Clinton's comment a year before about the last time she drove a car, in 1996, could be problematic.
'Should we add that HRC hasn't driven a car in thirty-five (?) years? (The Republicans love that one!). Also does "dead broke" go here or in the later videos??' she asked, referring to Clinton's comment that she and her husband were in dire straights when they left the White House.
They would go on to make millions off of public speeches to large corporations and the financial sector.
Grunwald advocated for a message test that asked, 'When HRC recently spoke to bankers at Goldman Sachs, instead of holding them accountable for their activities that crashed the economy, she told them that banker bashing was foolish and had to stop.
'She said "soothing" that we all got into our economic problems together," ' the fake attack ad was to say.
Communications Director Mandy Grunwald, left, and Senior Adviser John Podesta, right, exchanged possible criticisms of Hillary
The political consultant also suggested they drudge up someone saying, 'Clinton flew all over the world, but she can't name a single major accomplishment she made as Secretary of State.'
She also wanted to survey voters' reactions to positions that Clinton could take up on the trail in Iowa, including 'specific populist policy proposals -- or at least trying to get a sense of their corporate villains.'
'Does this still make sense? Or should we just stay focused on the negatives?' she asked.
One of Clinton's pollsters chimed in to say that they might want to ask in Iowa specifically about an article that accused her of paying her female Senate staffers less than the men and a conservative attack ad that had just come out that targeted the Clinton Foundation.
A final copy of the internal poll that they conducted over the phone included all of those points in addition to others about the taxpayer funded bailout of Wall Street Clinton backed, the money her family charity took from Middle Eastern countries 'that have been linked to terrorism,' mismanagement of funds at the Clinton Foundation, ethics investigations into her and her husband like Whitewater and the job she did as secretary of state.
One question was entirely dedicated to the terror attack in Benghazi.
The study asked voters whether they'd be more inclined to vote for Clinton or Jeb Bush, revealing that Clinton's aides viewed the former Florida governor as a major threat
The survey asked whether 'criticisms of Hillary Clinton's role in Benghazi are mostly fair and have merit in the facts' or not.
Others asked about her plans to 'continue the failed policies of Barack Obama,' including amnesty for illegal immigrants and Obamacare, and her tall tale about being shot at in Bosnia.
The study shows that Clinton's campaign also wondered if voters also believed she underestimated the threat posed by ISIS, should have voted against the war in Iraq and was wrong to have supported NAFTA.
Finally, it asked voters whether they'd be more inclined to vote for Clinton or Jeb Bush in the presidential election, revealing that Clinton's aides viewed the former Florida governor as a major threat and a likely GOP nominee.
They also also asked about Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who ended up flaming out early, months before voting started.
Clinton's team still thought it was possible that Elizabeth Warren would go head-to-head with her in the primary, too, and tested her as a possible Democratic candidate.
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